Welcome Home, Baxter Family
By Zoe Waters, Executive Director, Barwon Health Foundation
Some places become so much more than bricks and mortar.
They become part of a family's story. They become woven into the history of a community.
"Where were you born?"
For generations of Geelong families, that answer was Baxter House.
Officially opened on 4 August 1954, Baxter House welcomed its first patients at a time when Geelong's growing community needed a maternity hospital. The vision became reality thanks to the extraordinary generosity and advocacy of local philanthropist John Percy Hamilton Baxter OBE, who had donated the land years earlier and helped secure the funding needed to build the hospital.
For more than four decades, thousands of lives began at Baxter House.
In 1999, maternity services moved to the newly developed Bellarine Centre at University Hospital Geelong, but the memories created within Baxter House never left the people who walked through its doors.
That enduring connection was evident at the Barwon Health Foundation Gala Ball on 3 July 2026.
As the room came to silence, historic footage of Baxter House filled the room, Barwon Health Chair, The Honourable Lisa Neville invited everyone who had been born at Baxter House, or welcomed a baby there, to stand.
The response was extraordinary. Hundreds of people rose to their feet.
In that moment, the room became a living reminder that Baxter House was part of the city's identity.
That is why one of the evening's most significant announcements felt so deeply meaningful.
Thanks to the remarkable generosity of the Percy Baxter Charitable Trust and its significant $1.5 million contribution to the Barwon Women's and Children's Appeal, the Baxter name will continue to be associated with new generations of local families.
The maternity unit within the new Barwon Women's and Children's facility will proudly be known as the Baxter Family Maternity Unit.
It is a fitting tribute to a family whose philanthropy has supported healthcare in our region for more than 80 years, beginning with the establishment of the Percy Baxter Charitable Trust in 1949, and whose generosity continues to improve the lives of Victorians today.
As our community looks forward to a new era of maternity care, one thing remains unchanged, the Baxter name will continue its connection to healthcare in Geelong.
